Cluster hub · cloud & hosting
Cloud, hosting and the web, start here.
Every hosting, cloud and web-infrastructure piece on this desk in one place, grouped by the decision you came to make. 39 guides, no fabricated numbers.
Choosing hosting
- How much does web hosting cost in 2026? — true prices, the renewal trap, and a 3-year calculator
- What a VPS actually is, and the honest signs you have outgrown shared hosting
- Shared vs VPS vs cloud vs dedicated: the hosting decision in plain terms
- Free hosting vs. paid hosting: what actually changes
- Where to Host a Website for Free — And What Free Actually Means
Cloud platforms and cost
- Why your cloud bill spiked (and the few settings that stop it)
- Render vs Vercel vs Netlify in 2026: the comparison that starts with your project
- Object storage explained: the cheap way to hold files (and the egress catch)
- How to deploy a static site on Render — from a site that did it
- AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: choosing without the religion
- The Website Worked. The Deployment Didn't.
Performance and delivery
Domains, DNS and HTTPS
- Why is my site still not HTTPS? Certificate problems, in order
- Why does DNS not work — and why do changes 'take so long'?
- What the padlock really means: HTTPS and SSL, honestly
- What is DNS? The internet's phonebook, explained properly
- SSL certificate errors: what each warning is actually telling you
- Domain names explained: what you're actually paying for
- DNS-over-HTTPS and private DNS: stopping the part of your browsing everyone can see
- DNS problems: a diagnosis order that finds the cause fast
- Custom domains: the DNS order that avoids downtime
Website security
- What a WAF (web application firewall) is, and whether a small site needs one
- Website security headers explained: the few lines that block whole attack classes
- Vulnerability scanning explained: finding the open door before someone else does
- DDoS protection for a small site: what actually helps and what is overkill
- A front end that survives redesigns: CSP-safe patterns that work
Deploying and troubleshooting
- Why won't my website deploy? The diagnostic tree
- Why is my site not on Google? An indexing diagnostic
- Why is GitHub Pages not showing my changes?
- Why does Firebase deployment fail? Rules, indexes, quota
- How to check if Google has indexed a page
- HTTP status codes explained: the numbers your browser whispers
- Environment variables: what they are and why your API keys live there
- Which hosting type do I need? — a 2-minute decision tool that shows its working
- Which cloud service model fits me? — SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, serverless or self-hosted
- Sitemaps and IndexNow: telling search engines the honest way
- How the internet works, plainly
- Home network segmentation: the guest-network trick that protects your real devices
Want a topic covered? Tell the desk. Or see the cybersecurity hub and the whole tech desk.